W/E: 19/07/24

Jude: Last week was a bit of a Lemony Snicket style 'Series of Unfortunate Events' for Class 2.  We had planned an end of key stage celebratory trip to Kid Zone only to find out at the last minute that KidZone was closed due to a tornado damaging part of the roof!  We voted as a class and decided we would make the most of the beautiful weather with a water-fight and ice-creams.  The children were (of course) disappointed but Jude was particularly noticeable in terms of his positive attitude towards the change of plan.  He was full of enthusiasm and wonderful ideas and even consoled me when our plans were again problematic because our delivery of water balloons and water pistols did not arrive on time.  Jude's attitude to learning during the last half-term has also been superb.  He has been ready for his learning and up for the task, no matter whether it be his favourite subject or not.  Well done Jude, you will have a fantastic time in key stage two with this wonderful attitude to learning. 

W/E: 12/07/24

Billie: This young lady has had a fantastic week.  A highlight was when a child asked a question during our Science lesson.  Billie's hand shot up to answer the question; What do kangaroos eat?  She was able to explain that they are herbivores and mainly eat leaves.  Billie was able to answer this question due to discussions she is having at home because of her family connections in Australia.  It is wonderful to see her so engaged in her learning and able to connect the information she gains from different sources.   

W/E: 05/07/24

Mia: It has been quite an important week for my star this week.  We have seen and celebrated improvements over the course of the week.  Sometimes it is difficult to do the things we are asked to do and learning to persevere is a key school value, because it is so important to our learning.  I have been delighted by my star's improved attitude to her writing this week and I hope she continues to shine.

W/E: 27/06/24

Sophie B: has shown some real perseverance recently.  She has developed a very mature attitude, and we are extremely proud of her.  This young lady is also working hard in lessons, determined to finish all of her tasks to the best of her ability.  What more could we ask for!

 

Julia: along with 11 others, went to a tennis tournament with Miss Broughton at Retford Oaks.  She appeared to have a fantastic time, joining in with all the activities, determined to improve and refine her skills.  She listened carefully to the sports leaders and worked well with a variety of partners throughout the afternoon.  Well done Julia - you really shone! 

W/E: 21/06/24

Maks: is someone who has amazed his teachers by the way he has approached the last couple of weeks.  We have been very busy doing our end of year key stage assessments in year 2 for both reading and maths.  Maks attitude to the process has been superb.  He has been focussed and determined throughout and has definitely been the best version of himself that he can be!

 

Ella: could certainly be given star of the week every single week.  Her attitude to learning is superb and just like our first star, she is definitely the best she can be every single day.  She is kind and considerate and extremely polite.  Our star has made fantastic progress across the curriculum because of her readiness to learn.  She always produces high quality work.  She might think that we don't notice because she is so reliable - but as a class team we wanted to let her know that she is very much noticed!

W/E: 14/06/24

Lewis: This young man has really impressed us with his commitment to reading.  He has worked extremely hard during his extra phonics lessons and daily 1-2-1 reads in school.  He is making super progress when reading his Monster Phonics books and is beginning to read more fluently when both when using the focus grapheme and the common exception words in his book.  We were delighted that he passed his phonics screening test this week and can't wait to see how he continues to progress in the coming months.  Keep working hard with your reading - it will open up a world of opportunities for you!

Eliza: This young lady is thoroughly enjoying our creative writing unit.  Last week we talked about our diary writing where the children are pretending to be Kevin from the story, "The Koala Who Could" by Rachel Bright.  We have learnt about conjunctions, writing in the first person and past tense and contractions.  This young lady has  mastered all of the taught grammar, which she has demonstrated during her independent writing.  She is remembering to use previously taught punctuation accurately such as commas for lists and is using wonderful words and phrases from our stories in her writing.  This week she has demonstrated an extra skill by re-drafting a part of her writing, understanding that this is part of the writing process.

 

W/E: 07/06/24

Laurel: is someone who always works hard, but has particularly shone in her writing of late! Laurel has wowed Miss Broughton with her ability to combine writing in the first person and past tense, using quite an unusual style of writing, to write effective diary entries.  She has thought carefully about the character and has even used some of the words and phrases from the story in her writing.

 

Ellie: is someone who could be awarded star of the week every single week.  She comes to school with a superb attitude for learning and a real thirst for knowledge.  Her hand shoots up in every single lesson and you can guarantee that she will always have an interesting point of view and add valuable insight into our class discussions.  She has a wonderful sunny disposition which the class two team often comment on, as she regularly makes our day with her kind comments and thoughtful nature.  Ellie has matured hugely during her time in year two and we could not be more proud of her.

W/E: 24/05/24

Edan: This young man strives to be the best version of himself every single day.  He has boundless amounts of energy and enthusiasm for every part of his day, whether it be playing football with his friends during breaktime, gaining new knowledge during lesson times, or using his prior learning to complete a task.  What more could we possibly ask for?  His knowledge of spelling and grammar rules is particularly notable - in fact, we have begun to call him our grammar machine due to his unfailing accuracy.  As a result, his writing has come along in leaps and bounds during his time in Year 2!

 

Catherine: has made wonderful progress across all subjects, and her willingness to learn and apply new ideas, but this is not why she has been chosen.  Her kind and caring nature cannot go unnoticed, not only with her friends but the adults who care for her too!  Our star is not only a good friend to have, but she is extremely polite too.  Mrs Middleton always says that manners cost nothing and yet are so very important and the class 2 team are inclined to agree.  If everyone was as polite as Catherine, the world would certainly be a wonderful place! 

W/E: 17/05/24

Drew: has made huge improvements in her reading.  She works hard both at home and at school and as a result her word reading and fluency are improving rapidly.  Her attitude to learning is superb across the curriculum.  Her enthusiasm for her day and boundless energy make her a pleasure to teach!

 

Daisy: has been chosen for her super attitude to learning and subsequent progress.  However, the whole Year 2 team agree that Daisy deserves a mention for her kind nature.  Everyday, she demonstrates her caring nature and patience to every single member of the class.  She is a pleasure to have as part of class 2, and we could all learn a lot by watching the way that Daisy interacts with the peers, no matter what their differences are. 

W/E: 10/05/24

Daisy: has completed her 'big write' this week.  We are both agreed that she has made huge progress in her writing and that she should be very proud!  We have been looking at the features of a story, learning how to write an effective story opener.  The children have been focussing on using adventurous vocabulary, repetitions for effect, expanded noun phrases and similes in order to entertain the reader.  Our first star has blown my socks off with her ideas this week, which have culminated in a superb independent piece.  It is clear that Constance is beginning to use the words and phrases from her plentiful reading to give her some wonderful ideas for writing, which is fantastic to see.

 

Constance: sticking with the theme of writing, Constance has wowed me with her ideas.  We place a high value on the presentation of our books, because it demonstrates how much we care about our learning.  This young lady has pristine books across the curriculum.  She has worked hard on her handwriting (which is beautiful as a result).  In our most recent work in English, she has demonstrated how she can use a number of techniques to build a wonderful picture in the readers' mind.  She has also begun to embrace the editing process, understanding that writing is a process and that it can be improved by editing or re-drafting.  Another very worthy star this week!

W/E: 03/05/24

George: Class 2's Star of the Week is very special this week because this young man could have been chosen every week this half-term.  His maturity has been evident during the school day.  He cannot wait to complete his tasks each day, whether it be reading, writing, maths or his other areas of learning, and as a result, we are seeing huge amounts of progress. Mrs Smith has been delighted that our star is in fact wanting to do more than the planned activity.  For example, he often asks to read a number of Monster Phonics books at a time and has begun to read at home too.  We are immensely proud of our star this week - congratulations! 

W/E: 19/04/24

Felicity: has made some wonderful progress in Monster Phonics.  Her target in writing is to begin to use the correct spelling of words using the taught rules in year 2 (rather than relying on phonics).  This week, we have been studying the rule 'al' making the 'or' sound (such as wall and talk).  Felicity has reliably used this rule to increase her accuracy in spelling,  whilst remembering to spell key words correctly such as friend and school.  Well done Felicity, you have made some fantastic progress this week.

W/E: 22/03/24

Marcus: We could not fail to notice how much our first star enjoyed the trip yesterday.  It was full of intrigue and laughter for this young man.  Mrs Otter was delighted with the way he participated in the day.  He loved going underground - especially being able to shine his torch down dark tunnels and to closely inspect a variety of objects.  We walked for an hour underground, and he managed to keep his energy levels high!  Finally, we must comment on the phone he had during our visit to the adventure playground at the end of the day.  His raucous laughter whilst rolling down the hill made everyone's day! 

 

 

Oliver: Again, this young man impressed us greatly during the trip yesterday.  He amazed the tour guide with his plentiful knowledge about mining through the ages - especially during Victorian times.  It was not only obvious that he has retained the knowledge he has learnt at school but that he has valuable conversations at home to help him further his learning.   

W/E: 15/03/24

Lilianna: has been chosen for her enthusiasm during our new unit of learning in writing.  We have begun to look at poems and have spent time looking at the features of a poem. Lilianna was thoroughly engaged in the lesson and was able to explain how this style of writing differs from the others we have explored so far in Class 2.  It is also important to mention that she works extremely hard on her reading both at home and at school and her progress is notable.

Phoebe: is someone who can always be relied on to be making good choices.  She is a superb role model to her class and the younger children in Key Stage 1.  It is very easy in a busy classroom to have a chat with your friend instead of listening or completing the task you have been given, but Phoebe, day after day, demonstrates a huge amount of maturity.  

W/E: 08/03/24

Grace: has developed a love of history, which has been wonderful to see.  She has an infectious enthusiasm for all things historical.  Her thirst for knowledge has been clear in our Titanic, Victorian and Mining topic where she collects facts and thinks carefully about the evidence presented to her, before asking a variety of different of questions about what happened and why.  She particularly enjoys finding out about the changes that occured as a result of a historical event and has impressed a variety of teachers and a governor with the knowledge she has retained.  An extremely well deserved star of the week.

Charlie: has continued to make super progress in his reading, working hard both at home and at school.  As a result we are beginning to see huge leaps in his confidence when writing.  Charlie has the most fantastic ideas for sentences and is becoming more confident when attempting to write them down.  He now uses many of the rules for spelling that he is learning in his phonics sessions.  I love it when this young man puts his hand up to answer my questions, as he always brings a unique perspective to our discussions.  He works hard every day, has a wonderful sense of humour and is a joy to teach! 

W/E: 01/03/24

David: continues to impress us with his attitude to learning.  He really does appear to love learning and as a result is always paying close attention during lessons.  His writing has really impressed the Class 2 team this week.  He is able to work independently to think of his own sentences before writing them down using many of the rules of writing learnt in Class 2.  

Billie: has been chosen for her enthusiasm for learning in every subject!  We have been particularly impressed with her reading and writing this week where her sensible attitude to the tasks has led to some superb results.  During her independent writing this week, she showed that she can remember many of the taught rules of writing and can write in an appropriate style for report writing.   

W/E: 23/02/24

Sophie: has returned from her half term break with huge amounts of enthusiasm for her learning which is wonderful to see.  Mrs Smith and I have particularly noticed her transformation in her attitude to reading.  She is working hard at home and in school and her progress is plain to see.  Sophie has also been making huge amounts of progress in art.  During this weeks lesson she demonstrated colour mixing skills with powder paint and her ability to make tints and shades which using Monet's Waterlily painting as inspiration.

W/E: 02/02/24

Julia: is growing in confidence as the year progresses.  She works quietly and quickly and always to the best of her ability.  Julia is becoming more likely to offer answers to my questions and share her thoughts with her learning partner.  I was particularly impressed this week when she showed me how she had continued our history learning at home by drawing a picture of the animals who worked down the mine.  Julia had written some facts too in her beautiful cursive writing.

Ella: gets on with her work quickly and quietly to the best of her ability.  Ella does not make a fuss - just gets on and does it.  I want her to know that the adults in class two have noticed this and comment on it regularly.  It is because of her focus that Ella's work is of a high quality.  She listens carefully during lessons and works hard during independent tasks leading to fantastic pieces of work across all subjects!

W/E: 26/01/24

Jude: has had a superb attitude to his learning this week.  He has been extremely proud of the progress he has made in his handwriting (and rightly so).  Jude is beginning to use cursive writing more regularly and differentiate between his ascenders and descenders.  I was also impressed with him during our science lesson where he made extremely valuable contributions to our discussion about how to set up a fair test to answer the question, What does a plant need to grow? 

W/E: 19/01/24

Eliza: My first star has been doing some amazing story writing this week.  We are writing a spooky story opener based upon the illustrations of the picture book 'George and the Dragon' by Chris Wormell.  This young lady is working hard to master the techniques we have been using as well as choosing her vocabulary carefully.  We have been using expanded noun phrases, repetition for effect, question sentences and the power of three in order to build suspense.  Well done Eliza, your story opener is superb!

Marcus: has been developing his fine motor skills and hand strength which has provided him the foundations for holding a pencil for drawing, mark making and writing.  Marcus holds his pencil beautifully, holding it near the point between his first two fingers and thumb and with some good control and support - he has produced some brilliant work. The Year 2 team are very proud of his effort this week - practicing his pencil control by tracing over patterns with his pencil, he got so good at this he then moved on to tracing over the letters in his name! Well done Marcus

W/E: 15/12/23

Dana: has shone during our nativity despite a few nerves (shared at home about not being able to do it).  She had an integral part in the nativity as host (narrator) and needed to learn many lines. I was delighted to note Dana listened carefully to all advice given to ensure that her performance was the best it could be.  This is very much the norm for this young lady.  She is extremely diligent, listens carefully to feedback and always challenges herself in lessons.

Daisy B: Has shown great perseverance and determination in learning her role for the nativity.  I really admire the way she persevered with her role in the nativity, despite her wobbles.  She should be extremely proud of herself for learning her lines (and dance moves) so quickly. 

W/E: 08/12/23

Marcel: is a super star in maths.  He has a fantastic understanding of both place value and addition and subtraction which is demonstrated by the tasks he completes during lessons.  He listens carefully and then completes his work accurately.  His ability to explain his method has become really noticeable this week which shows how confident he is becoming. In the nativity Marcel was very proud to have learnt all his lines and his tango is phenomenal!

Daisy P: This week we have been completing a 'Big Write' in the form of instructions.  We noticed how hard Daisy is working on both her handwriting and the content of her sentences.  She has begun to use the correct spelling of some of our year 2 common exception words and is thinking carefully about her word choices.  Daisy's commitment to the KS1 nativity has been superb.  She knows all of the words to all of the songs and is fabulous in her role of 'floor manager'!

W/E: 01/12/23

George H: This young man is our star of the week this week for his attitude to the nativity.  We have been amazed by his confidence and willingness to take on such a big role.  He quickly learnt his lines and can always be relied upon to be ready to speak during his rehearsals - always with a smile on his face.  I cannot believe how self assured he appears.  George, you are our star of the week for your phenomenal commitment to your part in the KS1 nativity.  You are making us very proud!

Maks: Our second star has a superb attitude to learning.  He has enormous amounts of fun at breaktime but when it is time to learn he is always ready.  He might think that we don't notice how hard her works, due to the fact that he gets on with the job quickly and quietly, but he would be wrong!  He obviously cares about his learning and as a result is making wonderful progress in Year 2.  Well done Maks!

W/E: 24/11/23

Edan: Our first star has been noticed by all of the team in Class 2 for his engagement in phonics.  He is working hard in both whole class phonics and his group. His focus and concentration is ensuring that he can remember more and more each week. This week for example he was the first to remember one of the Tricky Witch rules (when the 'a' makes the 'o' sounds such as in the words was and want).  He is also working hard on his script for our nativity.  His perseverance with his lines is wonderful to see.

Drew: Our second star always has a smile on her face.  She listens carefully and always works hard.   She is a kind friend to others and can always be relied upon to be doing the right thing.  This young lady plays Mary in our nativity.  She has already learnt her lines and she has agreed to sing a solo (tissues at the ready!)

W/E: 17/11/23

George S: has thoroughly enjoyed Science where we have conducted an experiment to find out which materials are waterproof. He enjoyed using the equipment and accurately measuring the water in order to keep his test fair. During our school trip yesterday, this young man impressed Miss Sharp (our Victorian teacher) by stepping into the role Nesbert (who was late for school). He thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Victorian toys especially the wind up train.

Mia: has impressed Miss Broughton this week with her attitude to learning.  This week has she should be rightly proud of the work that she has completed on many occasions. She has also made us smile by how thrilled she is about her role in the nativity. We cannot wait for your to see our disco diva in action!

W/E: 10/11/23

Phoebe: This week we have begun a new unit of learning in Maths (addition and subtraction).  We began by revisiting number bonds to ten and then quickly moved on to fact families (involving both addition and subtraction).  Many of the children were confused by this, but not our star.  Not only did she demonstrate her growing understanding in the lesson, but at the end of the lesson both Mrs Knowles and Miss Broughton (on separate days) noticed how keen our star was to answer the challenge questions.  She 'wowed' both her teachers and classmates this week with her confidence and accuracy in maths.  Well done Phoebe, we are extremely proud of you!

W/E: 13/10/23

Laurel:  has wowed me with her commitment to her learning both in and out of school.  It began last Friday with looking to perfect her beautiful cursive writing at home and has led to a plethora of work coming my way from home.  She has written a recount of the maiden voyage of the Titanic and continued her sketching of hot air balloons in the style of artist Tom McCormack at home.  All of this extra effort has resulted in some superb outcomes in history, English and art this week.  What a super week!

Felicity: I have been amazed by my second stars engagement in Science this week.  We have been investigating different materials to protect an egg when dropped.  We discovered that bubble wrap and cotton wool were effective and talked about the properties of those materials.  When considering our results, we began to think about the other questions we might ask in order to further our investigations.  My star is very able to talk about the properties of materials and suggested that we could find out which material would be the most effective for a parachute to slow the egg down.  Such great thinking!

W/E: 06/10/23

Constance: My first star of the week wowed me with her writing this week.  We are writing a description of the Titanic and our lesson objective was to use an expanded noun phrase in order to help develop a clearer picture in the reader's mind.  Constance not only did this successfully, but she 'magpied' a wonderful phrase from a description of a hot air balloon which we had studied earlier on in the week.  After sharing her writing with the whole class, we then took the time to look at our stars first page of writing versus the writing she is producing now.  It is transformational.  Well done Constance, we are very proud of you!

Grace: Our second star has shown incredible perseverance this week; which must be celebrated.  She works extremely hard in every lesson and has a superb attitude to her learning.  I have been most impressed with her attitude to maths this week.  She has found some of our place value lessons a little tricky.  Grace has asked for help when needed both at home and at school and as a result is making good progress.  Well done Grace, your determination and perseverance in every area of your school day means that you will soon get the hang of it!

W/E: 29/11/23

Oliver: We have been learning how to write a recount of the Titanic's maiden voyage.  Initially, the children have been helped to write their sentences with a focus on capital letters, full stops, correct spellings of high frequency words/topic vocabulary and conjunctions.  This week we have been planning to complete our first independent write where I hope that the children will show me that they have retained some of their learning.  We began by orally rehearsing sentences before trying to write them down.  This young man amazed Miss Broughton and Mrs Knowles because of his focus and concentration during this task.  He quietly got on with the job and tried extremely hard to remember the things he had been taught.  He even remembered to read his sentences again in order to check that they made sense.  Well done Oliver, what a super start!

Joseph: In our PSHE lessons we have been talking about what it might feel like to be part of a new class.  My second star certainly knows how this feels.  He has quickly become part of our class and is beginning to make friends.  Like the rest of the class, he has rapidly become obsessed with our Titanic topic and loves to tell me the things he now knows.  I was particularly impressed with his artwork this week.  We have been studying a piece by the artist Tom Mcormack and learning some of the skills needed to replicate his work.  He showed super progress when he completed his line drawing of a hot air balloon and thoroughly enjoyed sharing his work with his friends at the end of the lesson.  Well done Joseph - what a great week you have had!

W/E: 22/09/23

David: This young man has amazed us by his enthusiasm for his learning in every lesson.  He is always listening and always tries his best.  He has developed a lot of confidence since arriving at St Anne's school and will now answer questions in class and ask for help when he needs it.  We have been particularly impressed with his reading.  He reads at least four times a week at home which means that he develops a wonderful fluency when reading his Monster Phonics books.  In addition to this I was really impressed with David's artwork this week.  He listened carefully to my instructions about sketching a hot air balloon leading to a really super outcome!

Charlie: We love Charlie's enthusiasm for his learning and his willingness to give everything a go.  He loves to answer my questions on the carpet and his answers often provide valuable information to the rest of the class regarding our lesson objective.  Charlie reads a lot at home and works hard in his group read and phonics lessons at school.  As a result he is making some wonderful progress.  We now send two Monster Phonics books home a week as he is becoming fluent at his stage of reading extremely quickly!

15/09/23

Ellie: Ellie has made a phenomenal start to Year 2.  She is thoroughly engaged in all of our learning and soon exclaimed, "I think I'm going to like it in this class!"  Her interest in the Titanic topic is particularly noticeable and she is becoming extremely adept at using topic specific vocabulary.  She can remember many details about the Titanic's maiden voyage and has recited this information in front of the whole class.  Ellie has even continued her learning at home. WOW!